Love and Lust in Liberty City
by flawlesssierra
Summary: Layla Grey is just your average young woman who loves to party. She works for her best friend Tony in helping him to manage his clubs. Layla has finally settled down into the work world of Liberty City and is now looking for love. Will she find someone in the end? Or will her hectic life/work schedule keep her from doing so?
1. Taking Out The Trash

_**All rights belong to Rockstar Games. I do not own any of the characters or places used in this story. I only own Layla Grey. **_

Welcome to _LoveMeet_, the most popular dating site used in the US today!

-  
I had spent about half an hour creating my profile and filling in  
all of the information about myself. My profile reads:

_**Name:Layla Grey, Age 26**_  
_**Currently Resides:Algonquin,Liberty City,USA**_  
_**Occupation:Club Manager/Right-hand Woman at Tony's Maisonette 9 & Club Hercules**_  
_**Fav. Radio Station(s):Liberty Rock Radio & Electro Choc**_  
_**About Me: I'm just your average 26 yr old woman looking for a nice guy to find love with. I**_  
_**currently help manage my best friend Tony's two clubs here in downtown Algonquin in Liberty City.**_  
_**I love going out and having a good time. I'm very sociable and I don't bite...hard. ;) So drop me**_  
_**a line sometime. **_  
_**-Layla**_

I really hope this works. I've been so lonely for too long. Work has had me so busy and tired to  
actually even try to pick up guys. But now that I've gotten into the swing of things I would like  
to start looking for a guy to stay steady with. Ahhh how I love dating. I miss it.

"Layla hunny!" I hear Bernie call from the other room. Bernie is my other gay friend besides Tony.  
We live together.I guess you could say I am closer to him than I am Tony.  
Tony seems to have always been kind of bipolar so he tends to piss alot of people off often...including me. I love Tony,  
but his anger issues still get the best of him AND ME. Bernie and I tell each other EVERYTHING whether it's problems at work(Bernie is in real estate),  
relationship problems, or just rating guys on their looks.  
"Yeah?" I call back.  
"We need to hurry and go! The park is gonna be packed later!"  
"Alright, I'm coming!" I yell back. We're going jogging like we always do in Middle Park. There's going to be a  
festival this weekend which will start to move in around noon so to avoid the crowd we have to be ready to leave by 9AM.  
We head out the door and get into Bernie's white sentinel. Bernie is driving. We got there at about 10 minutes after 9  
since we live fairly close here in Algonquin. I haven't always lived in Algonquin. I left Alderny to live with Bernie  
just about a year ago.  
"Oooohhhh look at that Mr. Hottie Pants!" Bernie says motioning towards the guy jogging past us as we get out of the car.  
"Yeah, it's always nice to see handsome men who work out and take care of themselves." I said."I'd say hmmm...maybe  
a 7.5 on the scale?"  
"Yeah, that sounds about right." We both giggle and then begin our morning run. We finished at about a quarter after ten.  
"I'm starving!" says Bernie.  
"Me too," I say. "Let's go get some froyos with mini fruit salads on the side."  
"Oooohhh hunny, that sounds so delish right now!"  
When we arrived at Lily's FroYo Shop and sat down with our food, I decided to check my LoveMeet messages on my phone.  
I had two date requests. One from some 60 year old sleazy little nasty, -INSTANTLY DECLINED- and one from a guy named  
Paul. He was actually sort of decent looking, age 25, from Dukes in Liberty City. I held the phone up to show Bernie and  
asked, "Maybe a 6?"  
"OH HONEY NO! HE'S DEFINITELY A -2! AND HE'S FROM DUKES! That should be a clear sign already to stay away! You don't need trash!"  
"Yeah, maybe you're right. But, not all guys from Dukes are trashy. I mean, hey! At least he's not from Bohan!" I said.  
"Hunny...I'm just gonna pretend you didn't say that.." Says Bernie. I laughed.  
We both finished eating and went home.  
I know Bernie may be right that I shouldn't settle for trash, but I've been lonely for so long that I'm starting to think  
that I might just have to take whatever I can get...

_**Please Review! Hope you liked it! Next chapter coming soon! Thanks! :)**_


	2. You're My Best Friend

It's 7 o'clock at night and I'm getting ready for work. I'm due to work Maisonette 9 tonight. I never really dread going to work because my job is actually alot of fun, it's never boring. All I ever do is talk to the people in the club and make sure that they are happy and having a good time. My co-workers aren't so bad either. There's Frankie the bartender, Dessie the bouncer, and then there's Luis. He's probably the nicest guy out of all of them. This one time in the club, some guy that was obviously wasted started shouting expletives at me, laughing, and making sexist jokes towards me. Luis caught ear of it and threw him out right away. Luis really does have what I like in a guy:good looks, he's a gentlemen, stands up for what's right. He's always been kind of protective of me and he's really an okay guy. Although I'm not 100% sure that he's completely stopped with the drug dealing. I really wouldn't want to get caught up in all of that. Anyway, I guess Luis may be worth a shot...and he DOES work tonight too. Maybe I could try to talk to him and see just what he's up to these days outside of the club.

* * *

After about an hour of working and conversating with the locals I see Luis on the other end of the club. He's standing in his usual spot "monitoring" everyone. I walk over to him and say "Hey Luis!"

"Hey Layla, what's up?"

"Oh you know..work stuff." I say.

"Yeah I feel you there. When I'm not watching for idiot drunkards, Tony has me running all over the place trying to keep the snobby little stuck up monsters happy." Luis says.

"Yeah," I chuckled. "I heard about him having you drive all the way to Bohan and back just to deliver Chinese to that McIntosh broad. We all know that she was just gonna chuck it all back up later."

"Yeah, drives me fucking crazy sometimes." Luis said.

"I would be pretty pissed too. So...how are Armando and Henrique? You still in business with them?"

"Those fools? I've been trying to stay out of the whole 'drug wars' deal but those idiots keep getting themselves in trouble and I'm always the one that has to save their asses."

"Ha, well that's good that you are at least trying to quit. It would be a shame to see such a good looking guy be put in the pen again." I said with a wink.

"I know, I'd miss seeing your face at the club too." We both smile.

It's moments like this that make me think that Luis and I could possibly work. We've known each other for years now.

"It's nice talking to you, but I should probably get back to Tony's office. I've got a couple of things that need taken care of." I say. As I turn to leave, Luis grabs my hand and says "Wait, would you happen to be free for lunch sometime this week?"

OH MY GOSH! IS HE ASKING ME OUT ON A DATE!? MY FIRST DATE IN LIKE...FOREVER!

"Um, yeah I should be free Thursday." I say with a smile.

"Thursday sounds good for me too. What do you say I come pick you up from your place and we go out to SuperStar Cafe together?"

"Sure, it's a date!" I say.

"Alright, see you then!" Luis says.

* * *

I come home later that night and hear cries coming from the bathroom.

"Bernie?" I say as I make my way towards the bathroom door.

_***Knock Knock***_

"Come in." he says.

"What's wrong? Why are you crying?" I say with concern.

"It's Ryan!" He says in sobs. "He's already dating another guy!"

Ryan is Bernie's ex-boyfriend of 10 months. They broke up 3 weeks ago. When Ryan dumped Bernie, it was nonstop crying for days. Bernie finally stopped, but he still had the idea in his mind that sooner or later they would be back together. Bernie has cried like this over many boyfriends, so there's nothing all that new going on here. I'm used to it. When Bernie gets dumped by some douchebag, I'm always the one having to pick up all the pieces. But Bernie is my best friend, so I really don't mind. Although I could do without the crying...It's like listening to a baby cry all through the night. It never stops...and it really takes a toll on you. But, it's whatever...I'll just have to get over it I guess. These next few days will be rough. Watching sad romance movies over and over and over again and devouring huge tubs of icecream...I guess it could be worse. But at least I have my date with Luis to look forward to. Although I might not tell Bernie...he might not approve of Luis knowing his strict high standards for me and himself... )

* * *

**Thanks for reading! I hope you guys liked it! Thanks for the reviews of the first chapter! Please keep them coming! If you guys have any ideas I would love to hear about them! PM me! Stay tuned for Chapter 3! :) 3**


	3. Sometimes I'll Be There

**_~Thursday 11AM~_**

Two days have passed and Bernie is actually starting to bounce back. HUGE shock. Usually it takes weeks for Bernie to even begin to get better. But that's great for me though. Since he's in a better mood maybe I can actually tell him where I'm going instead of lying to his face. He hasn't left my side once since Tuesday. He even went to Club Hercules with me for my shift. I expected him to just sit there and sulk like a sad little puppy but he actually seemed to have a good time. He got up and danced, laughed, and flirted the whole night through._ (And that's without alcohol)_ So it's a big surprise to me that he's taking the breakup so well.

I walk into the living room where Bernie is lying on the couch.

"Bernie?" I ask

"Yeah, babe wassup?" He says

"I'm going out now. I'll be back later." I say as I take a few slow steps to the door hoping for him to not question me about it.

"Well, where are you going? Hercules? If so, I'm coming too! Bernie is ready to party all the time!" He says.

"No, I'm not going to Hercules."

"Oh, Maisonette? Well, I'm coming anyway. Straight men are still nice to look at. I'm sure I could turn a few-"

"-No, not Maisonette and you can't come. I'm going on a date." I interrupt. Bernie stares at me in betrayal and shock for a moment.

"WHAT!? How come you didn't tell me before? When did you plan this? Who's the guy?" He shouts.

_-I sigh- _"His name is Luis. We work together and he asked me Tuesday night to go out to lunch with him. I didn't tell you because you were grieving and I didn't want to upset you more."

"Well you have upset me anyway! I hope you have fun with your DAAATTTEEE!" He says in a mocking tone as he runs to his bedroom and slams the door.

Well, this could have gone alot better...I would have tried to talk to him and calm him down but I heard a knock at the door. I answer the door and it's Luis.

"Hey gorgeous, what's wrong?"

I guess he could sense my discontent from the mini argument I just had with Bernie. He always reads me like a book. I find that extremely attractive.

"Oh, nothing. It's just my roommate. He's...having a bad day. Shall we go?" I ask.

"Sure, let's go." He says.

* * *

He opens the car door for me on my side as I get in and closes it. What a gentleman. He then gets in and we go.

"I didn't know you had a roommate." He says.

"Yeah my GBF Bernie. We've lived together for about a year or two now."

"GBF?"

"Gay best friend." I say.

"Ah, I see...So, can I ask you something Layla?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"Well, it's more of a favor and I hate to ask you this but I really don't have much of a choice because my sanity is at stake here."

"It's okay Luis...just ask me."

"Okay, so Tony has gotten me into a bit of a rut. Do you know Gracie? Gracie Ancelotti?"

"Yeah."

"Tony introduced us and now Gracie has taken a liking to me and will not leave me alone. She's always calling me, which by the way, I have no idea how she got my number. She tells everyone that I'm her boyfriend and that we're soul mates and that we are meant to be together and all this BS."

"Wow, psycho much?"

"I know. So I was wondering maybe you could be my 'pretend' girlfriend next time I have to go to the club or Tony's place and she's there, just to get her off my back, you know? Scare her off?"

_-I chuckle- _"Well, I don't know if I could 'scare' her but I guess I could try. Gracie has always had her stalkish ways about her with all of her ex-boyfriends. I always felt bad for them."

"Thanks Layla, you're a lifesaver."

"It's no problem." I say.

We finally arrive to the Superstar Cafe. As we walk in one of my favorite songs are playing. _"Walking on the Sun" by Smashmouth. _

"I love this song!" I say.

But a few seconds later I remember that this was always Bernie and I's song. The regret and guilt of leaving Bernie starts to fill my mind. But I can't let this ruin my first date in forever. It's time for me to get back in the game. The dating game. Then I look up at Luis from the table and he smiles at me. The butterfly feeling in my stomach sets guilty feelings start to fade away and I'm having a great time with Luis. I suddenly forget why I was upset in the first place. For the first time in a long time, I'm happy.


End file.
